Separate plugin and theme, or…?

  • tblacker

    (@tblacker)


    6 years, 9 months ago

    Hi, I am close to releasing my first theme, but I have run into a bit of a cycle that I cant break out of…. let me explain.

    The theme relies heavily on custom Gutenberg blocks I have created. These blocks require the themes css to work properly, and the theme requires the blocks to have full functionality, so in my head it made sense to include the blocks INSIDE the theme.

    Theme checker throws this as an error because I am registering blocks inside a theme. I completely get the logic, that if a user creates content with the blocks then deactivates the theme then we don’t want that content to be orphaned, but… the blocks and the theme are symbiotic. Having one without the other would make zero sense.

    Bearing in mind the symbiosis, if I was to break out the blocks as a plugin (and somehow separate out the css), I would then need the theme to require the plugin…so it would need to reference that plugin. But the plugin kind of requires the theme, so would need to reference the theme. In short, which would I need to submit for review first, and how to show they are related?

    Alternatively, having the blocks registered inside the theme – would that be an automatic rejection of the theme?

    I hope that makes sense and that I haven’t massively over complicated something! I look forward to some clear thinking being pointed at me 😀

    • This topic was modified 6 years, 9 months ago by tblacker. Reason: typo in title
Viewing 4 replies - 1 through 4 (of 4 total)
  • Moderator Jan Dembowski

    (@jdembowski)

    Forum Moderator and Brute Squad

    6 years, 9 months ago

    Moved to Everything else WordPress, this is not a Developing with WordPress topic. You are asking for process help.

    Hi, I am close to releasing my first theme,

    You’re also asking in the wrong place. You should instead ask on the #themereview Slack channel. That and in the Theme Review Team’s trac (when you submit your theme) then you can have that conversation in your trac ticket for your theme.

    Thread Starter tblacker

    (@tblacker)

    6 years, 9 months ago

    Thanks for moving the thread, and apologies for positing in the wrong place to begin with :). The Slack channel would appear to be an invite only. And my question was to avoid wasting theme reviewers time by having things right before I submit it to them…

    Moderator Jan Dembowski

    (@jdembowski)

    Forum Moderator and Brute Squad

    6 years, 9 months ago

    And my question was to avoid wasting theme reviewers time by having things right before I submit it to them…

    Don’t. 😉

    The whole purpose of using the Theme Review Team is to get their feedback. Creating a topic like this is a waste of your time. You can get 100 people telling you things and none of it would matter. The opinions on the forums or in a topic is meaningless to a theme reviews. Those opinions here literally do not matter there.

    Use the TRT process. It’s lengthy, yes, but it’s there to help you and get better themes to WordPress users.

    Moderator Samuel Wood (Otto)

    (@otto42)

    ww.wp.xz.cn Admin

    6 years, 9 months ago

    Bearing in mind the symbiosis, if I was to break out the blocks as a plugin (and somehow separate out the css), I would then need the theme to require the plugin…so it would need to reference that plugin. But the plugin kind of requires the theme, so would need to reference the theme. In short, which would I need to submit for review first, and how to show they are related?

    Honestly, it sounds like you have a made a system that is inappropriate to be hosted here.

    – A theme displays the content.
    – The blocks control the input of the content.
    – In no way are these two things related nor should they be tied together.

    Basically, it sounds like you have created a solution for a specific case that doesn’t make sense to be distributing to other people. The blocks should not be theme specific, they should be generic ways to input content. And the theme should be able to display any type of content, not be tied to some specific form of input.

    It’s like making shortcodes in a theme. It doesn’t make sense to have some special code in the theme which ties the site’s content to that theme forever. It’s fine for a specific site and use case, sure, but not for a generic theme for anybody to use. This layer of separation between input and output is important and should not be dismissed so easily.

    My advice would be to remove the blocks from the theme entirely, make them more generic so that they will work with any theme instead of being tied to your theme, and then to make your theme more generic so that it will work well with any set of content, not just your own custom blocks.

Viewing 4 replies - 1 through 4 (of 4 total)

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